An interesting idea for a book but the pacing made it hard for me to get into the story and connect with the characters. Solid but for me not memorable. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I was intrigued by the title of this book and went in blind.

Ava Simon works at STÄDA as an engineer (think: IKEA) and is currently developing a product called The Very Nice Box. She is very rigid in her thinking, breaking her days up into manageable "units" and we discover that this is a coping mechanism from when she was recovering from a car accident that killed her parents and fiancée Andie.

STÄDA hires Mat Putnam who will be Ava's new boss and turns the place into a typical millennial workplace. I do love the satire in this. Ava and Mat accidentally hit it off eventually resulting in them being in a relationship.

I really loved the character of Ava and her way of thinking. Mat gave me sort of Andrew Tate vibes, except maybe not as extreme! I didn't trust him from the beginning.

Where this fell a bit for me was with the pacing. It took a while for me to get into the box, it felt like I was sailing along for a while until the last quarter when we hit the little twist. I like that it was essentially a romcom with a bit of thriller mixed in too!

This is not my cup of tea at all but I liked it a lot anyway. This book is so dense and I was just catapulted in it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

The Very Nice Box is a darkly comedic and suspenseful debut novel by an author whose writing is both witty and emotive. The story follows Ava Simon, an obsessive product engineer who designs storage boxes for a trendy furniture company called STÄDA, as she becomes drawn to her new boss, the charismatic and magnetic Mat Putnam.

Despite her hesitancy, Ava begins to fall for Mat and opens up to him, but as the relationship develops, she begins to question his true intentions. The novel explores themes of grief, loss, friendship, and trust, all while satirizing toxic masculinity and corporate culture.

The pacing of the book picks up in the second half, with a few unexpected twists that make it hard to put down. The characters are well-developed and likeable, especially Ava, whose journey from a grief-stricken and rigid individual to a more open and vulnerable person is compelling and relatable.

Overall, The Very Nice Box is a clever and original debut that balances humor and sadness while delivering a satisfying and unpredictable ending. If you enjoy romantic comedies with a bit of drama,, you will definitely enjoy this novel. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

the book expired before I got a chance to read, but I will hopefully be picking up a physical copy soon.

A Very Nice Box is one of those slow burners that ends up gripping you as you wonder whether to believe everything you read.
I loved getting to know Ava - her character has been through so much and the grief and loneliness she feels is written about so sensitively. I was willing for her to be able to move on and enjoy life again. Her friendship with Jaime was wonderful- so supportive and I loved their Monday lunch hookups.
Mat was intriguing - he almost seemed too good to be true at times.
This is one of those reads you find that you can’t put down - each page opens a new train of thought and I was hooked til the very end with the twists and turns. A clever read.

Ava is a devoted engineer at STADA, (definitely not inspired by IKEA) she follows a rigid routine with little deviation, that is until her new boss, the charismatic Mat enters the picture...

The Very Nice Box is not quite one thing. It's a rom com but also a mystery / thriller and I quite liked this about it. In fact there's a lot that I liked about this book. I very much enjoyed the office / corporate culture satire in TVNB. Witty, insightful observations are sprinkled generously throughout the story and I chuckled to myself quite a bit whilst reading this.

As to be expected the darkness grows steadily as you read. It is both immersive and suspenseful, and was a more thought provoking (if a little predictable) experience than was expecting. I thought the character's tauma and grief was really well written, suitably raw and stark, and the overall portrayal of queerness throughout the book was also great, it felt nuanced, complex and felt naturally diverse.

My biggest niggle was the pacing. The beginning was slow to build, so when things started slotting into place quickly towards the end it felt rushed. The end was also bit too neat for my taste, however I can see others enjoying its orderliness.

Overall The Very Nice Box is a very enjoyable read. Thank you to Netgalley ad Verve Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This addictive, compelling and emotional read, had me intensely intrigued and inquisitive quickly, as I was introduced to Ava, and her quirky unique ways. An LGBTQIA+ read that took me on an incredible emotional rollercoaster.

The writing style is flawlessly paced and had me hooked from the very first chapters.

I was unable to predict the ending, although I am aware that some readers did. This book had me guessing until the end, and maintained a steady measure of anticipation throughout.

There are some issues that some people may find distressing, however, these are handled well by the author and prevents from being a heavy read, for my preferences.

If you are looking for an interesting and entertaining story, focusing on self-development and personal growth, this is the book for you! This would make an ideal book club read, as there is plenty to discuss throughout.

I suspect there aren’t many people who haven’t shopped at IKEA at some point but I’m not sure many of us have wandered through and thought of it as inspiration for a book. Well that’s exactly what Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman have done in this book whose heroine Ava works for a fictional, but very IKEA-like company – and in doing so they have created a quirky and engaging book, part rom-com, part thriller, a satirical story that pokes fun at corporate culture and the millennial workforce. It is a book that made me smile, at times made me cringe and certainly took some turns I never saw coming.

Full of diverse and interesting characters, none more so than Ava whose struggles feel very real, this is a book that I guarantee will take you by surprise. I don’t want to say too much as I think its strength lies in its unexpectedness but if you are looking for something fun and a little bit different then you should read it!

Ava’s parents and her partner, Andie (she/her), died in a car crash in suspicious circumstances. Partly as a result, Ava has become withdrawn, wary, self-absorbed, work focused. I say ‘partly’ because she is an engineer and these are characteristics often given to fictional engineers. She works for STADA, a Brooklyn based company, clearly modelled on IKEA, and her current project is designing “The Very Nice Box”. All company products have positive sounding adjectives like this, which forms the main comedic element of the story, if you have come to it as a Romcom. Her only friend is Jamie (he/him) with whom she discusses obscure blogs and podcasts. Ava is mostly attracted to women, but has had boyfriends, Jamie is gay and so not her type but he is a focused engineer so sympatico. Then the new boss, Mat, arrives – handsome, athletic, dynamic, frivolous, awash with ideas, not fussed about details, rampantly cismale. He rapidly charms Ava; this is the romantic bit in Romcom. All is sweetness and light inside STADA, while outside protests against the building of a new block on a community garden site are causing disruptions. Ava is conflicted about her feelings for Mat and her guilt at ‘betraying’ Andie’s memory, and is getting counselling through an online bot-system called SHRNK, installed on all STADA’s computers as part of Mat’s changes to the work ethics. So is this supposed to be a Romcom, as it is sometimes billed? Or is it a thriller, as it is also described. Clearly the only mystery element is what caused the car crash, and for most of the book this is not explored, or will the plot lead towards a proper psychological thriller element?
The writing style is light, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and the inventiveness of the adjectives is amusing. I worked out all of the plot fairly early and stuck with the book really just to confirm. The main characters are millennials and I guess that is the target audience. I hope they find it satisfying but I was a bit disappointed.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Even if Ava Simon didn't work as a box engineer for STÄDA, she'd probably still have her apartment furnished with their products. They're simple, functional and no more what they say. And that's exactly what she needs, especially as she tries to recover from the tragic loss of her girlfriend and parents and throws herself into work and designing her passion project - The Very Nice Box.

Ava likes everything to be exactly like it says on the box and nothing more. So when a relationship starts to grow between her and her new charismatic and categorically handsome boss, Mat, she doesn't know what to do when she discovers he isn't exactly what he appears to. Their relationship is about to take a sharp turn into unknown territory along with everything else in her perfectly engineered life.

"Falling in love with Mat was the feeling of jumping from a very high perch, yet somehow it was also the feeling of safety; of a key sliding into a lock; of gears meeting precisely."

This is searing tale of despair and recovery. A hilarious parody of modern corporate culture. A reflection on male privilege and ignorance. A testament to the power of human connection. A witty observation about contemporary life and it's unique pressures. A love story.

And a very nice book.

This easily readable, fast-moving story has enough breakneck twists to leave you with a very sore neck and an aching heart. You'd think that prose littered with ikea-esque language would get old and awkward, but this refreshingly unique take on corporate language was addictively engrossing and created an encompassing world building that was simply amazing.

The characters were affecting and moving - full of quirk and charm, with questions and insecurities rooted deeply in the curiousness of modern life. We see our characters reflect on the fluidity of sexuality and identity, and explore the many facets of what makes us human.

The authors manage to bring a gripping witty humour and provoke a deeply evocative response throughout - full of romance, intrigue and just a bit of mystery all wrapped up in a very nice box.

The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gliechmann.


I liked this book a lot. An original take on a workplace romance coupled with a wry look at male entitlement and corporate culture. I enjoyed the writing, its sharp and clever and heartwarming. The book made me smile and cringe in equal measure with its descriptions of millennial lifestyles and I was fully invested in the protagonist from the opening chapter.

Ava Simon is a senior engineer for Brooklyn based, furniture company Stada. Ava leads an ordered, organised life, she is hard working, loves her dog and is clouded in grief since an accident killed her girlfriend and parents.

Then a new manager arrives into Stada. Mat is energetic , positive and magnetic and Ava finds herself falling for him despite their differences and a standard office romance veers off course.

Part romance, part suspense, part satire, it's a fun read with lots of diverse and realistic characters and Ava is the best of them. I loved her. I miss her since I finished the book. The suspense element wasn't a big surprise but it was so well written that it didn't matter. My only criticism is I would have liked a darker ending!

Recommend. A clever heartwarming read.

The premise of this - a queer office satire - sucked me in, as did the glowing review given by Marian Keyes on Twitter. Ava is a thirty one year old product designer who lives a meticulously ordered - and possibly quite dull - life, but she's a smart, spiky character I wanted to love. Why am I writing the review in this sad way? My ARC wasn't working correctly and each page with the chapter title didn't appear. I'm gutted as I was so excited for this one - I'm tempted to pick it up as soon as I can.

I enjoyed this book, which was written in a style I haven't come across before. It was self-aware without being heavy handed - especially in reference to the workplace therapy apps, and the range of 'lifestyle' furniture.

This book had me laughing out loud from the first page on. Not on the sad background story of Ava of course, but o dear, what a horrible workplace she has to go to every day. She might be an engineer and very skillfull in designing boxes, I would go mad if I had to go to a workplace like hers. It's just not serious, with the way people have to behave happy and healthy all the time, and forcing them to talk to an app with the name SHRNK.
It was so over the top, and on the other hand recognizable from job ads you see nowadays where the company promises you 'fun and games' instead of a decent workspace and a good salary.
Anyway, I enjoyed the story, with the strange colleagues, the good friend Jamie and even Mat when he was just introduced.
A great story with multiple layers!
Thanks to Netgalley and Verve books for this review copy.

This was a very, very witty book. And a great take and perspective on new generation living.
Ava is a diligent and hardworking engineer tasked with designing the Very Nice Box. But she's severely depressed after multiple traumas. Then she meets Matthew. This book is a wild ride, you never really know what's coming next and I'm still not entirely sure what genre it is! Highly original and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I absolutely loved this, it has a wonderful light humour that eases the way into much darker depths. It really was unexpected in places and I will be recommending it to everyone.
Ava is lured out from behind her defences by the charming and charismatic Matt, and this starts as a lovely romantic fiction but develops into something quite different.
The product names throughout were a fabulous little extra detail.

The book is under the category as a romantic comedy and mystery and thriller. I requested to read this book as I thought it would be different and unusual to other books I’ve read, and different and unusual it was.

Ava designs storage boxes for an Ikea type firm. After a tragic accident resulting in the death of her girlfriend and parents a few years, she lives a very mundane and boring life with her dog Brutus. Ava meets new boss Matt Putnam and forms an unlikely relationship with him, breathing in more excitement to her life.

At the start of the book, Ava’s life is really tragic. Its great to see how her character develops throughout the book. By the end of the book she becomes quite a likeable character!

I wouldn’t really class this book as a Rom-Com as it wasn’t very funny and there wasn’t really much of a thriller aspect of the book until I was about 80% through the book.

I didn’t hate this book but I didn’t love it either. i think lots of people would enjoy it, but unfortunately it didnt really tick any thriller boxes for me.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

MUCH SPOILER.

This book is odd, and I’m vexed it’s being advertised as a romcom. Because it is definitely not a romcom. This isn’t the book’s fault, of course, or indeed the authors’ fault but I’m kind of a low ebb, right now, for being told things are a thing just become they have some elements in common with the thing I’m being told it is. Yes, there’s some rom in this book, and also some com, but that doesn’t make it a romcom any more than the fact Emma Bovary has a few love affairs makes Madame Bovary a romance either. It is the strong element of the heroine NOT drinking arsenic and dying that makes a romance a romance. Not that I’m saying anyone drinks arsenic and dies in The Very Nice Box. But, while it has a genuinely positive ending, it also contains the romcom equivalent of “drinking arsenic and dying” – which is to say it is fundamentally not a romcom. And I don’t just say this as an aggrieved writer of, y’know, romcoms.

I guess I’d probably say The Very Nice Box is basically a slowburn office thriller. The heroine, Ava Simon, works for STÄDA, an IKEA-like, Scandinavian furniture company based in Brooklyn. Despite relatively humble beginnings, STÄDA is now something of a glass-tower inhabiting corporate giant: one that is trying very hard to pretend to not be evil, but is so very clearly evil. Ava, who is an engineer specialising in storage solutions, keeps herself mostly shielded from the corporate and marketing aspects of the company, burying herself in work and routine, and distancing herself as much as possible from the people around her. We quickly learn (seriously, this comes out in the first 10% of the book, do not whinge at me about spoilers in comments) that this is partially a response to trauma, Ava having lost her girlfriend and parents in a horrific car crash some years earlier, although there’s also implications that Ava might be independently neurodivergent. Enter Mat Putman, the new head of product and marketing. Initially dismissed by Ava as a “douchebag bro” he is young, handsome, dynamic, and charismatic, and Ava finds herself to drawn to him and opening up to him. Slowly, he encourages her to expand the boundaries of her life. To begin, in fact, to live again.

All of which would be good and fine if Mat wasn’t, like, so covered in red flags as to be a walking red flag. And, honestly, I’m not sure if he was meant to be otherwise but it the fact there is so blatantly something up with him unbalanced the novel for me. I mean, having to read about 50-60% of a relationship you can tell is not remotely what it appears to be is just … kind of … gruelling and water-threading? Plus I kind of twigged the main twist at 20%, which is not an amazing piece of narrative deduction on my part: there’s an entire Netflix show with the same premise.

So basically I think I liked this … thematically, but not so much practically? I mean, I appreciated the way the story fit together, well, like a very nice box? The way the heroine, in her grief, has boxed up her life, oh d’you see? The skewering of a particular type of corporate culture is also amusing if obvious, though I think I ended up wanting STÄDA furniture than perhaps I was meant to? Probably the book did not want my first act on finishing it to swing over to the IKEA website to see if I needed any more elegant, minimal storage solutions (the answer is: I always need elegant, minimal storage solutions). It’s just Mat was … not necessarily implausibly awful but, I guess, very transparently awful. But then, I guess fuckwittery is always more easily seen from the outside. Although the plot unfolding in the way it does sort of requires Ava to actively ignore/reject/maintain a lack of curiosity over quite a lot direct information she’s being given regarding Mat. I recognise that this is partially a response to trauma, needing Mat to be good in the way she also needs STÄDA to be good, even if that means blocking out large swathes of who they both are, but it was another example of the book working better for me thematically than in terms of how it was … heh … constructed. Or, to put it another way, A Very Nice Box sometimes felt over-engineered.

The ending, similarly, fell afoul of this for me. BIG SPOILER HERE.

Fully unmasked as someone who is absolutely not the right person for Ava to be with, he ends up pursuing her through a STÄDA party that is ostensibly celebrating her latest design (the Very Nice Box). Throughout this sequence, where the book goes full thriller, Ava is genuinely in fear of her life and ends up leading Mat onto the construction floor where the various STÄDA designs are put together and shipped out. While he’s trying to win her back / defend his actions, she manoeuvres him onto the exact spot where a Very Nice Box is being put together by four mechanical arms, essentially trapping Mat in a Very Nice Box and getting him shipped off to … somewhere? Like, obviously, this works thematically (a toxic man is boxed up and sent away) and even sort of brings together the two slightly tonally disparate elements of the book (the corporate satire and the toxic romance) in this … uh …
Yakety Sax moment of physical comedy. But, like, this is a man who has made Ava legitimately scared for her safety—she thought he was going to murder her in the photocopying room because his self-image could not cope her seeing him as he really is. In her place I would be concerned he was out there in the world, assuming he doesn’t die of lack of oxygen in a Very Nice Box? She does mention explicitly that there’s a safety catch inside so he’ll probably escape without dying of lack of oxygen but given everything Mat has done to bring out the events of the book, the real threat he presented at the party, I didn’t quite … believe someone like that wouldn’t keep hassling Ava in the future. His type just, uh, doesn’t stop. That’s part of why they’re terrifying. PS – while I’m nitpicking it doesn’t make sense that Mat would take a random job elsewhere, as he does at the halfway mark of the book, creating a romantic obstacle, since his entire backstory is about Ava.

Anyway, I did appreciate, however, the portrayal of Ava’s queerness. Most of her previous relationships have been largely with women, but she does have some attraction towards men sometimes, and the only label she really uses for herself is “queer”. I felt this was all refreshingly complex and realistic, as we tend to assume sexually fluid identities are very much 50/50 and I don’t think I’ve read anything about someone who is a Kinsey-Whatever-The-Number-Is-That-Means-You’re-Mostly-But-Not-Completely-One-Way that wasn’t also problematically framed as a Gay For You. And, of course, it flows nicely with the general theme around not putting yourself or allowing others to put you in a box.

So I guess … a bit of a curate’s egg for me, this one? Very much a good in parts situation.

Thank you to NetGalley, Laura Blackett, Eve Gleichman and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I rated this three stars because of how slow the first 3/4 of the book was. I felt like I was reading it just get through it. However, the plot twist at the end redeemed my interest and I loved it. Just wish the book had been a bit more fast paced.